The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the West Bengal government from taking any “coercive action” against several BJP leaders in criminal cases registered against them by police.
A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul issued notice to the Trinamool Congress government on separate petitions filed by BJP leaders, including Mukul Roy, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Arjun Singh, against the multiple FIRs containing “vague” and even “improbable” criminal allegations against them.
“No stone has been left unturned to make use of the State machinery and the State Police to harass the petitioners,” one of the petitioners said.
The pleas said the government had initiated “false and frivolous cases against political leaders whose political allegiance and ideologies are different”.
Besides Mr. Roy, Mr. Vijayvargiya and Mr. Singh, two other BJP leaders, Sourav Singh and Pawan Kumar Singh, have moved the apex court for protection in cases lodged against them in the State.
Directive to MHA
The court directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to submit in a sealed cover a report on an alleged scuffle between TMC workers and security staff of BJP leader Kabir Shankar Bose, who has filed a separate petition.
During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mr. Arjun Singh, said that 64 criminal cases have been filed against the BJP leader in 2019 after he joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress.
Mr. Vijayvargiya’s counsel told the Bench that the BJP leader was an MP from Madhya Pradesh and false cases have been lodged against him in West Bengal.
The BJP leaders have also sought investigation by an independent agency into the cases registered against them in West Bengal.
